No. 24 Sooners Face Strong Field in Georgia

Oct. 4, 2012

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 24 Oklahoma women's golf team heads to Athens, Ga., Oct. 5-7 (Friday-Sunday) to compete in the 41st annual Liz Murphey Fall Preview at the 6,335-yard, par-72 University of Georgia Golf Course in one of the Sooners' toughest challenges of the season.

The 18-team, 54-hole tournament features a competitive field that boasts 12 top-30 teams, including three in the top 10 of the Golfweek rankings. The field includes: No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Duke, No. 9 Southern California, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 13 Virginia, No. 15 Auburn, No. 21 Georgia, No. 23 Texas A&M, No. 25 California, No. 28 Alabama, No. 30 Tennessee, No. 32 North Carolina, No. 42 Tulane, No. 49 Denver, No. 65 South Carolina, No. 68 LSU and No. 80 UCLA.

“It's exciting for us to be playing at the Liz Murphey Fall Preview, since the NCAA Championships will be here,” said OU head coach Veronique Drouin-Luttrell. “The field is really strong and it will give us a chance to play against the best in the country.”

Drouin-Luttrell, who came to OU after serving as an assistant coach at Georgia, is returning to Athens for the Liz Murphey for the third time since arriving in Norman in 2009.

Competing at the No.1 position for the Sooners will be junior Chirapat “Ja” Jao-Javanil. The defending national champion is coming off a tie for fifth place at last week's season-opening Golfweek Conference Challenge.

Junior Emily Collins joins the lineup in the No. 2 spot after recording a seventh-place finish last week, her first top-10 showing since the fall of her freshman year.

Anne-Catherina Tanguay, who tied for ninth at the Golfweek Conference Challenge, will start in the No. 3 position.

Tennessee transfer Kaitlyn Rohrback enters the official lineup for her first time as a Sooner and will play in the No.4 spot. Rohrback competed as an individual last week and finished in a tie for 11th place.

Rounding out OU's lineup is senior Taylor Schmidt, who is playing in the No. 5 spot.

The Sooners will be paired with LSU and Auburn in Friday's first round and will tee off the beginning at 8:40 a.m. CT. Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com.